GRACE FIELD GEOPOTENTIAL COEFFICIENTS GFZ RELEASE 6.0

FOR EXPERT USE ONLY. This dataset contains estimates of static field geopotential of the Earth, derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission measurements, produced by the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). The data are in spherical harmonics averaged over approximately a month. The primary objective of the GRACE mission is to obtain accurate estimates of the mean and time-variable components of the gravity field variations. This objective is achieved by making continuous measurements of the change in distance between twin spacecraft, co-orbiting in about 500 km altitude, near circular, polar orbit, spaced approximately 200 km apart, using a microwave ranging system. In addition to these range change, the non-gravitional forces are measured on each satellite using a high accuracy electrostatic, room-temperature accelerometer. The satellite orientation and position (and timing) are precisely measured using twin star cameras and a GPS receiver, respectively. Spatial and temporal variations in the gravity field affect the orbits (or trajectories) of the twin spacecraft differently. These differences are manifested as changes in the distance between the spacecraft, as they orbit the Earth. This change in distance is reflected in the time-of-flight of microwave signals transmitted and received nearly simultaneously between the two spacecraft. The change in this time of fight is continuously measured by tracking the phase of the microwave carrier signals. The so called dual-one-way range change measurements can be reconstructed from these phase measurements. This range change (or its numerically derived derivatives), along with other mission and ancillary data, is subsequently analyzed to extract the parameters of an Earth gravity field model.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated November 2, 2026, 17:50 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 16:30 (UTC)
Identifier 10.5880/GFZ.GRACE_06_GSM
Modified 2026-10-26T22:16:10Z
Theme {"Earth Science"}
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id 4a8f7d43-bcde-4f34-b7df-5884537c09ad
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
programCode {026:000}
publisher DE/GFZ;NASA/JPL/PODAAC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash ae28d19e431644aacf599dfb029f9b9ff5a6b6f32ba738febb84dbb181dd9d7c
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN", [{"WestBoundingCoordinate": -180.0, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": -88, "EastBoundingCoordinate": 180.0, "NorthBoundingCoordinate": 88}]]
temporal 2002-04-05/2017-07-01